Life as the Cleveland Slayer
by Mistress of the Keyblade
Summary: Takes place after season 5, so spoilers up to there. What if a new Slayer was called on the hellmouth in Cleveland? Please Read and Review!


**Everything belongs to Joss. **

**Set at the after season 5 and at the beginning of season 6, so spoilers up to there.**

**When Buffy died a new slayer was called...**

**Please read and review**

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Anastasia Barton sat on the edge of her bed, staring out the window. Every once in a while she would glance at the clock, but only for a few seconds before she returned to watching the driveway eagerly. Chuck Barton had called at 8:00 the previous night with a surprise: tickets to the Browns game on her birthday! So today Annie was waiting impatiently for twelve o' clock to roll around and her dad's red 1997 Chevy pick-up to appear in the driveway outside. Then he'd whisk her off to lunch and afterward to the stadium where she would watch her beloved Cleveland Browns defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the most important game of the season, which just happened to land on her birthday. Annie Barton was sure she had to be the luckiest girl in the world. 

At 11:59 she heard the familiar growl of the motor, and moments later she saw the shiny hood of the truck that was her father's pride and joy. It turned into the driveway and stopped in front of the garage door, right below the window. The driver's side door swung open and out stepped the best dad in the entire world. Annie was down the stairs and out the front door before Chuck could even ring the doorbell.

"Whoa there, Squirt! Gotta say bye to your mum first, tell her you're leavin'," he said, laughing.

Annie scowled and dashed back inside, skidding to a halt in the doorway to the kitchen. "Dad's here gotta go love ya bye!" she said, without even stopping for breath. Lolita Sanders started to turn around, but her daughter was out the door and in the truck before she even had time to open her mouth.

Half an hour later they had finished lunch and were ready to head to the game. They arrived fifteen minutes before the kickoff, just in time to get drinks and find seats. They sat down with their Dr. Peppers and waited for the game to start. A family with two small children, a boy and a girl, sat in front of them. The girl had a lollypop, and the boy was crying because he didn't have one.

"Peter, I told you to stop throwing things out the window! You had a lollypop, and you _chose_ to disobey me. Now you have to live with the consequences," the mother explained irritably. The boy clearly didn't like that answer, because he grabbed the lollypop with both hands and yanked it out of his sister's mouth. She grabbed at it, and the two siblings fought over the candy while the tired-looking mother tried in vain to calm them.

"Its mine!" the girl shouted, pushing her brother. "Ow!" she yelled, when he pulled her hair. Suddenly he gave her a particularly violent shove and she fell backwards off the bench and collided with Annie's legs, knocking the Dr. Pepper out of her hands.

"Elliot!" the mother shouted angrily, grabbing her daughter by the arm. "You two, quiet down and sit still or we will leave now and go straight home!" Her children pouted, but sat as they were instructed. The mother turned to Annie. "I'm sorry about your drink," she started, but Annie cut her off, saying "That's okay. Kids will be kids." The mother nodded and returned to her seat.

"I'll be right back," Annie said to her father. "I'm just going to get another drink." He nodded and she got up and squeezed her way past four or five people to get to the stairs. Taking them two at a time, she hurried down toward the concession stand.

After she had paid for her soda, she started to go back to her seat. "Annie!" someone called after her. Annie spun around at the sound of her name, searching for the source. Someone waved, and she spotted Ms. Gifford, her English teacher, making her way toward Annie through the crowd. Annie waited impatiently; it was almost time for the kickoff.

Finally, Ms. Gifford reached her. "Annie, I need to talk to you about something very important. Would you please come out to my car?" she asked.

"Can it wait until after the game?" Annie asked. If she didn't get back soon, she would miss the beginning of the game.

"It's rather more important than a football game, I think," said Ms. Gifford with a small frown. "You see, this is a matter concerning your—"

Just then the crowd roared and Annie knew that she was too late. "I'm sorry Ms. Gifford, I can't hear you! Maybe we can talk after the game!" she shouted. Ms. Gifford tried to say something, but was again drowned out by the crowd. A group of guys who had arrived late jostled their way through to the concession stand, walking between Annie and Ms. Gifford. Annie used this opportunity to make her way back to the stands.

"What took so long? Ya missed an amazing first down by Cleveland!" Chuck said when she got back to her seat. Annie groaned. _Stupid Ms. Gifford_ she thought. _Probably just wanted to tell me I got a D on my last English paper._

But something puzzled her. Why would a teacher come to a football game just to tell her she got a bad grade on something? That was silly; there must have been some other reason for Ms. Gifford to be at the game. Surely it wasn't to watch it—Ms. Gifford hated anything to do with football, claiming it was simply too American, and besides, she could just as easily have watched it from home on the television—assuming she had one.

A blast of noise from the crowd signifying the first touch down of the game brought Annie's attention back to the game. She mentally cursed Ms. Gifford for once again making her miss a crucial moment of the game. She stood and cheered with the rest of the crowd as the kicker scored an extra point for the Browns.

Annie didn't think about Ms. Gifford again for the rest of the game. After the Browns won, 27 to 23, Annie and her dad climbed into the truck and went to Dairy Queen to celebrate with ice cream cones. It was 4:00 by the time they finally pulled back into the driveway in front of Annie's mom's house. Before Annie got out of the truck, Chuck opened up the glove compartment and pulled out a small box wrapped in pink and silver wrapping paper. A curly silver bow sat neatly on top. He placed it in her hand and said, "Happy birthday Squirt," and planted a kiss on her forehead. Annie grinned and jumped out of the truck. "Thanks Dad," she said, before running inside. She could hear the Chevy drive away as she climbed the stairs to her room.

She set the present from her dad down on her dresser and walked over to her phone. She picked it up and started to punch in the number of her best friends' house. Her two best friends were identical twins named Luke and Tyler. The three of them did everything together; they were so close sometimes it seemed like they were triplets. Before she got to the fifth digit, however, her mom called up the stairs, "Annie, there's a teacher here to see you!"

Annie sighed. She had forgotten all about Ms. Gifford, but she supposed she should go down and see what the woman wanted. She set the phone down and trudged reluctantly down the stairs.

Ms. Gifford was standing in the kitchen talking to Lolita when Annie came downstairs. "Ah. Annie," she said when she saw her. "Can I talk to you somewhere private?" Annie nodded and led Ms. Gifford up to her room, closing the door behind her.

"Now then, I tried to tell you at the game, but it was simply too noisy. I have some important news regarding your destiny," the English teacher began, once they were alone.

"My… destiny?" Annie asked incredulously. "What do you mean by 'destiny'?"

"Well, you see, it's a bit hard to explain. About a month ago, a young woman in Sunnydale, California died," she began, her British accent somehow becoming crisper as she spoke.

_So? Some girl in California died. So what, that's, like, two thousand miles away. What's that got to do with me?_ she wondered. _Wait, she's probably going to tell me she was my long lost cousin and I've inherited something somehow._

Ms. Gifford continued. "Her name was Buffy Summers, and she was no ordinary woman. She was a Vampire Slayer." She paused to let this sink in.

"A what?" asked Annie. She thought she'd heard "vampire slayer" but she must have been mistaken, because there were no such things as vampires, and so there was certainly no need for a vampire slayer.

Ms. Gifford smiled as though she'd been hoping Annie would ask that. "A Vampire Slayer," she repeated. "You see, it's a rather long story, but the gist of it is, one girl in the world is given supernatural strength and skill in order to fight the vampires and the forces of darkness. She is the Vampire Slayer. When one slayer dies, another one is called."

Annie interrupted again. "So, you're saying this girl who died was a vampire slayer, and she died, so now someone else is a vampire slayer." Ms. Gifford nodded, and Annie continued, "And this new someone is… me?"

Ms. Gifford nodded, relieved. This would perhaps be easier than she had expected, if Annie could understand it that easily. "Yes. Buffy died, and you were called."

"But, vampires don't exist," Annie pointed out, slowly, as if she were speaking to a child.

Ms. Gifford sighed. This was the problem they normally ran into when introducing new Slayers to their destinies. "Meet me tonight at the cemetery closest to here, just after dark," she instructed.

Annie sighed. Ms. Gifford sure was taking up a lot of her time today. But if it would make the teacher leave her alone, than Annie was willing to walk out to the cemetery, even if it was just to prove that vampires didn't exist. "All right. I'll be there."

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**Ok people, tell me what you think. Please! A new chapter is the reward for reviews.**


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